Lowery: The blue-collar musician at the eye of the copyright storm

Aren't record companies to blame for misrepresenting their artists post-digital?

It's quite simple really (and could be seen as a very naive view), but didn't a lot of artists boycott digital music by advise from their representative record companies around the napster era? I'm pretty sure there was a lot of confusion and artists not knowing what they were saying with not knowing the difference between napster freetard land and the dawn of downloadable music? Especially at the time was going to ruin their old money flow of tapes and CDs every week.

Rather than try to embrace the easy way of distributing music via P2P; record companies, the music authorities and even bands alike tried to dump every lawsuit and court case going. I really don't think (by reading artcles and such) that Napster was supposed to be the opposite evil of the music industry. I cannot believe all this was carrying on back in 2000/2001! I think closing it down caused a backlash with the younger generation at the time and ever since that crowd has never understood what it's like to properly own music.

Lowery makes some good points, but with the lack of understanding how it could of been different under a tweaked attitude with the tech that was there. Especially to overcome slow modems and the introduction of DSL tech which would of made MP3 a natural successor after CD with a different story to what we have now. Make it as sharable as CDs/Tapes in the physical way but not to restrict it so much that people will go out of their way to get it free.

Lowery is as bad as those he complains about

Rather then consider the other side, possibly even make some consessions, he accepts only what he wants. He goes so far as to declare that since they will not back EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS, they are unreasonable and must be dismissed outright. He actually said that chunks of the population which (if he is to be belived) represent enough power to force his entire industry into being only a handful of international mega-corps should be outright ignored! This guy has testicles the size and consistancy of cannonballs, and an ego to match!

What really blows my mind every time I hear reports like this is that I've seen many reports that, by a large margin, the public supports reasonable enforcment of copyrights. What they do not support is complete removal of due proccess.

Let me point that out with a quote: "Almost invariably the ISPs will tell you they don't have to do anything because the repeat infringer is somebody who has not been convicted of copyright of infringement in a court of law." Yes, ISPs want you to go follow due process. There is a really good reason of this. Your industry has been cought taking down videos because they claim to own the sound of birds and taking down videos which they do not copyrights on because the content is not something they approve of.

"Eventually you have to deal with Bittorrent on the ISP level but I would start with the advertising." That's one hell of a gem too! WHAT do you have in mind here? May I remind you there is nothing illegal about Bittorrent. It's just a protocol. A vary effecent one if you happen to have some information you want to get to a wide range of people. One that has been used by such dirty pirates as Blizzard and Conical.

Let's look at the content creation industries' practices a bit deeper. I have a number of television shows and movies, all obtained legally. EVERY ONE OF THEM has a notice telling me the punishments for violating copyrights. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY? I got this movie legally! I've PROVEN that I'm not particuarly inclined to pirate it. All you are doing is putting a barrior between me and the contant I paid you for. Some of them go a step farther, and put non-skippable advertisements. I paid to watch the movie, not an advertisement. If you want to put ads, then you should charge me less. All of this makes only makes me wonder, "Why do I bother? I could just pull this down on BT and be able to watch only the video!"

Maybe I'm being too harsh, grouping industries. "music" and "movies" are different you say? Well, lets look at you guys again. you've been caught trying to install malware on my computer. The United States Department of Homeland Security, had to issue an advisory on it. This hasn't happened once, your industry (I'm only counting the music industry here) has done this atleast twice to my knowladge. Frankly, I think everyone invovled sould be charged under the computer misuse laws.

TL,DNR: YOU are as much the problem as anyone, the more quickly you recognise this, the more quickly we can move to a meaningful debate on how we can build a system which is benifical to everyone, and TRUELY discourage piracy.

Game over I'm afraid..

The genie is out of the lamp. There is the ideal world and then there is the way things are. I am an idealist still, in the face of this, but I don't pretend even to myself, that my higher aspirations for myself, and humanity as a whole, will have any *real* impact.

Okay, not sure I can add anything to the argument that someone hasn't already thought/wrote.

So, a little bit about me, for those bored or interested. Who knows? It may give a perspective to someone.

<portait of the artist as an old man>

I've been reading the reg for a few years now, decided to become a commentard about a year or so's (sic[hick]) ago. I know I'm not the only 'musician type' here. Many far more advanced than I, both career and talent wise by the sounds of it.

I write international, best selling no.1s. As with most true songwriters I can write in a variety of genres. Pop/hip-hop/soul/dance would be the bag of the no.1s. They don't fall into any recognizable genre, but appeal broadly to lovers of these types of music, across the genres. Er, I don't want to give the impression that I have ever sold a record. Maybe in a past life I had some kind of 'success', but in my world now, I am a pure unadulterated failure. A sad case. In fact, a sad bastard, on the whole.

My problem? I'm glad you asked...

<reclining on couch>

Now, let me see, it all started.......

</reclining on couch>

Actually, no decompiling or disassembly is needed, it is quite simple: You just can't get the staff these days.

That goes for above as below.

First, below:

I need girls. I need young girls (25 is past it). I need young girls that are willing to be groomed. They may have the looks, they may have the voice, they may have the determination, they may have the persistence. But rarely do they have the 'attitude' (I'm not talking about chewing gum and being cheeky here - that is quite common). This is where the grooming is necessary. I realise the negative connotations of this word in common everyday vernacular and parlance, but for some reason, they still 'groom' horses, don't they? It is that sort of grooming. Taking what seems to be a bloody good thoroughbred (nature or nurture don't matter here), and putting in the necessary resources to bring about their actuation according to the hierarchy of needs. Boyfriends can be a headfuck. Try telling a 21 year old hormonal girl that maybe it is not such a great idea, at the moment, and you will be accused of being manipulative, of having hidden agendas, etc. etc. And that is just by her Mother, Dad just punches you in the face. Actually, I am exaggerating slightly now, but not by much. Getting the picture?

As for above:

Well, generally I subscribe to the Groucho Marx school of: any club that would have me as a member....

But, I make an exception here. I've had major deals. I've had a record in the top 20. I've been seen on telly. Ooohh aren't you impressed? Not much I would wager. Anyway, as I said, that was a past life. I don't play that way no more. The problem is I tend to hate music. It is shit these days, and most people I talk to seem to agree. Don't get me wrong I still discover new artists like Bluetech and the such, so I'm cool daddio, but they swim in a sea of shit. And don't it show. Hip-hop ain't what it used to be. Before these gangster rappers (and what's worse - wannabee gangster rappers - omg) took over, Hip-hop used to be called RAP - an offshoot of disco. They 'rapped' about dis and dat, pretty much in the vein of a wordsmith, parallel to what you might find in a 'real' programmer... But I digress...

Above. Above for me is the business. The reason I spilled my guts about my previous life is to show that I have been there to a very very small extent. Yes they were fat. Yes they were jewish. Yest they smoked cigars. I miss them. R.I.P. David Walker. They don't make 'em like that anymore. No, we now have the Simon fucking Cowherd generation. How long oh lord, how long? You get me? Like? Whatever.

Everyone I meet is out for a fast buck, trying to live a dream that isn't real. I'm a producer. I meet other producers and I cringe. You mean you do beats in fruity loops? (not knocking fruity loops - I have their top of the range signature bundle and a few synth, fx plugins - and yes, I paid for it!) But still....

I might live in a parallel world, but all the best music makers happen to be plumbers or horse-traders, or on the dole. They have no interest in 'making it' in the current music biz. To be honest, I have given up myself. I push the boundaries and am trying to invent new genres of music (like the grey-haired-balding and eccentric mad professor type I am). I'll give you a tip. ASMR is where it is at these days. I've said too much already. Yeah, actually I have. This has turned into a rant (again).

If all goes well, I should have a new website set up that is beautiful, secure and a joy to use. From there you will get EVERYTHING free. You were going to steal it anyway fucktard, so I have no recourse but to appeal to your inner guilt, or god forbid, altruism. You will be able to buy stuff and you will get <frankie howerd> a bit of an extra on top. Yes you will...! ooOHHh! </frankie howerd> Do we play live? Can I book your band of merry bitches. Er no, bit difficult, still a pipe dream in the old gulliver, like. We will do T-Shirts. We will do high end fashion design made by up and coming designers that already have their boutiques in Bond St. and concessions at Harrods. No, we don't do private parties. We are not the fucking black eyed peas and you are not roman fucking abitofabitch, are you?. You can't afford it baby. But everyone has their price.

I'd settle for a nice sandwich.

<thick bog-trotting accent>

Oooh mah pertaitoze 'av boiled.

</thich bog-trotting accent>

I think it's time to go now.

I shut up now.

Thanks for listening.

</portait of the artist as an old man>

VP

living life offline, I go to jail for 20 years for a gram, you get probation for 8kilos. Let's not make the same mistakes online too........